Weipoint Address Verification
Connect your existing identity to the Ethereum Blockchain
You can now cryptographically link your Ethereum addresses to a Keybase account on Weipoint. Keybase accounts can be linked with sites like Github and Facebook, making it possible to connect your full existing digital identity to the blockchain. Try it out at weipoint.com/wallet/verify or view my own proof at weipoint.com/service/keybase/antonioj
Up until now, identity on the blockchain has been separate from identity on the existing Internet. While this anonymity is sometimes desirable, at other times it is beneficial to know exactly who an address on the blockchain belongs to. For example, it would be great to know for a fact the ICO contract you are funding is authentic, or the address you are sending to does in fact belong to your Facebook friend Matt. Having this link also allows decentralized applications to utilize your identity, opening up a new category of possible interactions. Weipoint now allows you to provably establish this link between your Internet and blockchain identity.
How It Works
Weipoint creates a message declaring that your address is linked to your Keybase account. This message is then cryptographically signed by both your Keybase account and wallet containing your address, proving you own both accounts. Afterwards, this message along with the corresponding signatures are publicly displayed so that anyone can verify its authenticity. All of this is done without placing any trust in Weipoint itself.
After you complete the verification, Weipoint will display your Keybase account username on your address page, as well as on any smart contracts you create using that address. Additionally, Weipoint automatically discovers other Internet accounts, such as Github, Reddit and Facebook, that you have linked to your Keybase account and will display your usernames for those sites as well. Addresses and contracts will be discoverable by your Internet usernames through Weipoint search.
For dApp Developers
Verifying the address with which you create your contracts can be a great way to establish trust with your users. Since Weipoint automatically displays your linked accounts alongside your contracts in search results, your users will be able to quickly verify the authenticity of your smart contracts. If you link your organization’s website to Keybase, Weipoint will also display your web domain alongside your other verifications, which can be helpful if your users already recognize your domain name. Check out an example here.
Future Plans
Currently, links and proofs are stored on our servers and are only accessible on weipoint.com. In the future, we plan to host verifications on a public decentralized file store such as IPFS, as well as in a smart contract, making it easy for dApps to determine the identity of their users.
Head over to weipoint.com/wallet/verify to verify your own address. If you’re interested in learning more about how this could be used in your dApp, please reach out to me at antonio@weipoint.com. We’re also always looking for talented individuals to join the team.
